Chino is unexpectedly filling its second City Council vacancy of 2017, and not to be a downer, but the repetition is taking the novelty out of it.

When Gary George was appointed in January, making him the first newcomer to the council in 16 years, I felt like a witness to history, of a modest sort. A second vacancy six months later? The whole experience is devalued.

Still, despite the retread factor, I dutifully showed up to the applicant interviews Wednesday evening.

The public’s enthusiasm had waned too. In January, 26 people applied for the at-large seat. This time, six did, although the opening was limited to people who live in District 1, the northwest part of Chino.

Whoever is chosen will fill the seat vacated early by Glenn Duncan due to poor health and will serve until November 2018, when an election would take place for the final two years of Duncan’s term.

On Wednesday, candidates came in for 10-minute interviews in front of the now-four-person City Council. Afterward, council members had the option of appointing someone right then, but two said they’d like to think about it until Tuesday’s regular meeting. Look for a decision and swearing-in then.

All applicants were asked the same eight questions. Candidates were sequestered in another room and led in and out to avoid anyone getting an advantage.

In January, I’m told, one candidate’s relative sat in the audience and fed the questions to him. Not that it seemed to help.

Once again, some candidates were unprepared or lost, acknowledging they knew next to nothing about city government or had no special focus or expertise to offer.

I’m pretty sure the first candidate was also interviewed in January, and he hadn’t improved. A recent college graduate, he stood out this time for sporting a man bun.

I’m not clear what he does for a living, but maybe he’s a samurai.

(The Chino City Council could use a samurai. During the period of the meetings where they talk about their activities, the samurai could say: “I went to the Chili Cookoff and the Concert in the Park, and also I saved a village of women and children from marauders.”)

A woman had little to talk about other than her years with the LAPD, doing so in the present tense, only on the final pass saying she has retired.

Seemingly unaware of the existence of the Chino Valley Unified School District, one man said his goal was to build up Chino’s schools and spend more dollars per student. Asked what his focus would be as a councilman, he said: “I would love to focus on the schools.”

Council members, in a show of charity, did not pull out lighters and burn his application on the spot.

Not all the interviews were so dispiriting. One man who interviewed in January and guessed then that the city had a budget of “about half a million” this time said he’d met with the finance director and that the budget was “$75 million.” Bingo.

Another man had the general plan with him and said he was “somewhat” familiar with the budget. (He said the budget could be “tightened up” due to “frivolous spending” but didn’t elaborate.)

“If you appoint me,” the man concluded, “I would hope to be elected to serve for years to come.” He didn’t go into his retirement plans, but maybe a nice luncheon, nothing fancy.

Standing out from the pack was a man who serves on the Planning Commission and is an active volunteer around the city. The question about the general plan, from Earl Elrod, came with a friendly comment: “This is an easy one for you. If you can’t answer this one …” It turned out the candidate was on the committee that wrote the plan.

“It’s the constitution for the city,” the man said confidently. “It lays out how the city will develop. It creates a framework for decision-making.”

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: "Pomona A to Z" and "Getting Started." Follow David Allen @davidallen909

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